


The Brothers Soong

by soongtypeprincess



Series: The Family Soong [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Accidents, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, Children, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt, Family Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 02:13:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2174157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soongtypeprincess/pseuds/soongtypeprincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Soong family has to come to terms with what to do with one of their children since a past trauma changed their lives.</p><p>Please read my notes for more details before reading.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in a 20th century AU where the three Soong brothers are human, eight-year-old triplets. 
> 
> 4/2015: Edited.
> 
> I DON'T OWN THE TNG CHARACTERS UPON WHICH MY CHARACTERS ARE BASED!

“That boy is out of control!”

Nicholas Soong slammed the kitchen cabinet door after retrieving a mug to prepare his customary evening tea. “If I get one more letter from his principal about how he tears up playground equipment or terrorizes the janitor, I’m going to--!”

“Nicky,” Julia interrupted in a low tone so as not to wake the children. “Maybe Laurence acts out because he isn’t on the same level as his classmates. Just two weeks ago, his teacher informed me that she believes he should be in a more advanced classroom. His mental abilities are accelerating much faster than his peers.” Julia sighed and brushed her forehead lightly with her fingertips. “But then...you would know that if you attended these parent/teacher meetings.”

Soong growled as he filled his cup with his bag of mint tea. 

He looked at his wife, whose bottom lip was now set in a stern, straight line.

He emitted an exasperated breath. “Perhaps he needs to change schools.”

“Nicky…" Julia sighed. "We can’t move again. I’m tired of moving! The boys are tired of moving! Billy has had enough traumas and Danny never has time to make friends. We can’t keep—“

“Sweetheart,” Soong appeased her. “Moving is out of the question. This project I’m working on…this is it this time; I feel it!” He pulled her closer and gave her a tender kiss on her forehead. “I just think Laurence…may fare better in a…stricter environment. Something like St. Tiberius.”

Julia looked up at him, her mouth slightly agape in surprise. “The boarding school in Riverside?”

“It’ll be good for him,” Soong assured her. “He’ll be in a closed learning environment with other kids like him. He’ll even learn a trade, something to keep him stable and on his feet in the future.” 

“I don’t know, Nicky…” Julia sniffed. “Maybe it would be good, but…he’s just a little boy, and if you would just…not be so hard on him and spend more time with him, then maybe—“

“I’ve tried everything, Julia,” he mumbled as the tea kettle began to whistle. He turned off the stove and rubbed his right temple. “I can’t connect to him. He isn’t right.”

Julia stepped closer behind him and weaved her fingers softly through his unkempt hair. “You can't changed what happened to Billy. No one is to--"

“Don’t you dare!” Soong snarled as he turned to her, making her jump in surprise.

Laurence sat at the top of the stairs, his small hands gripping the cedar pillars of the bannister. 

His brow furrowed deeper with contempt at every word, and he knew how Soong would convince his wife with his gruff and conniving ways that placing their problematic son in a private school in the middle of the nowhere would be the perfect idea to fix him. 

Laurence’s eyes began to burn and he quietly crept back to his room, shutting the door softly behind him. He turned to climb to the top of the bunk bed, but he was met with the inquisitive eyes of his identical brothers: Danny, who was sitting on the bottom bunk clutching his stuffed, striped cat to his chest; and Billy, whose need for his own bed was crucial as he had recurrent night terrors that made him kick and scream.

“Is everything all right, Laurence?” came Danny’s soft, flat voice.

Laurence sniffed as he trotted to the ladder that led to his bed. “None of your business…” he mumbled as he climbed upwards to his mattress.

“I heard yelling!” Billy shouted emphatically. 

Laurence and Danny both shushed their brother loudly, and Billy cowered back under his sheet.

“Shut up, dummy!” Laurence whispered, harshly. “Dad’ll come up here…”

Billy whimpered as Danny got out of his bed and looked up at his brother with a blank expression. “Please do not call him that. You know how it makes him cry.”

Laurence rolled his eyes and plopped onto his side. 

Danny then frowned disapprovingly before quickly walking over to Billy’s bed where he proceeded to stroke his shoulder, soothingly. “Do not listen to him,” Danny whispered. “He does not mean it.”

Billy wiped a tear from his cheek and looked at his brother with doleful, blue eyes. “I’m bad, Danny. I heard Mom say my name and Dad yelled at her. I'm bad.”

“You are not,” his brother comforted, smiling. “Go to sleep. We are going to the park tomorrow.”

As Billy’s face brightened with a similar grin, Laurence mumbled, “He’ll just sit in the damn dirt and probably try to eat worms or something.”

Billy gasped and giggled. “Laurence! That's a bad word. Haha! 'Damn.'”

Danny scolded, “Do not repeat that. He is trying to get you into trouble.”

“It’ll be a damn good change,” Laurence grumbled again, “having someone else take the blame.”

Danny looked up at his despondent brother’s reclined body outlined tightly by his thin bed sheet. He turned back to Billy, saying, “Good night, brother.”

“Hee hee. Laurence. You're funny.”

Danny shushed him once more and, with his stuffed cat still clutched closely to him, he climbed up the ladder to Laurence’s bed. Danny laid next him, his curious eyes trying search those of his miserable brother. 

Laurence only returned Danny’s look with a harsh glare. “Go away, nerd,” he commanded, simply.

Danny didn’t budge, but just scooted closer to him. “What is the matter?” he asked in a hushed voice.

Laurence bit his tongue so the tears in his eyes wouldn't fall onto his cheeks. However, one escaped and spattered onto his bed spread as he curled up into a tighter ball.

“Dad hates me,” he moaned lightly in a choked voice.

Danny’s mouth fell open in surprise and he instantly sat up, moved even closer to Laurence, and placed a comforting hand on his back. “Father does not hate you,” he promised, matter-of-factually.

“He does!” he moaned louder. “He hates me! He wants to send me away to another school!”

“Mother would not allow that.” Danny wasn't sure if he believed his own words as he also knew how convincing Soong could be with her. 

“She was thinking about it just now, too,” Laurence explained to him as he sat up and crossed his arms. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his legs as more tears fell onto the bed. “It’s because I’m smarter. I’m smarter than those dumb kids in our class, Danny. Dad doesn't want another smart kid.”

“Why would he not want that?” Danny asked, tilting his head curiously.

“Because…he has you…” Laurence replied as he raised his hateful eyes to him. “You’re his favorite; you always have been. Because you’re good…” He paused and sniffed loudly. “And I’m…not right…”

He suddenly plopped back onto his side, facing away from his brother, and sobbed into his pillow.

Danny didn’t know what to tell him. He recognized that Laurence was quite mischievous, willful, but also very intelligent. Why would their father want to send him away for being the individual that he was? 

If anything, their father should be proud that he had two brilliant sons since the accident had left Billy with dysfunctional cognitive skills. Billy had once loved to read, and he read volumes of books on biology and medicine. Most of the medical books Julia bought him were too advanced even for his level of reading, but he still pored over them, cover to cover, marveling over the medical diagrams of skin cells, brain tissue, and heart valves. 

It all changed instantly. He now had to be assisted with most of the basic tasks. He only spoke in short sentences, and had a tendency to repeat himself or tell the same story over and over like it was new every time. Their mother no longer worked with their father because she had to take care of Billy and keep an eye on him while Danny and Laurence went to school. 

Danny was now the pride and joy of the Soong family while Laurence felt disregard and neglect. 

He realized just how lonely his brother was.

He carefully placed his stuffed cat at the foot of the bed before laying next to Laurence and putting his forehead between his shoulder blades. He felt his brother’s body tremble as his crying subsided, and Danny carefully reached out and stroked Laurence’s shaggy, black hair.

“Do not be sad,” he whispered to him. “Everything will work out all right.”

Laurence resisted rolling his eyes again at his naïve brother’s conviction, and instead allowed him to continue stroking the dark locks on his head.

The measured strokes were matching in length and pressure, and he knew that Danny was mentally counting the number of times his fingertips touched his brother’s scalp.

Danny always did things like this. Counting. He was always counting. Counting the steps it took to get from the front door to their bedroom. Counting the seconds it took for the coffee pot to brew in the morning. Danny always seemed to be lacking in emotional reactions, but if any of his counting happened to be off, he would begin to heave, thinking that he had missed a step or a drop of coffee. 

Their mother was always there to quell his fears, and she would do things like brew another pot of coffee so that he could start over. In fact, Laurence couldn’t say how many cups of coffee had been washed away down the sink drain because Danny would have a panic attack. One would think that their father would be upset at how wasteful his child was acting all for the sake of some mental compulsion.

Laurence frowned at the thought of his father. He used to have all of Soong’s attention. He would sit in his father’s lap and watch him sketch out miraculous mechanical designs of vast machines that floated in the air and on the water. Soong would take him to his job sites and show how his designs were being built, and Laurence was even allowed a few times to sit at the controls and pretend to be flying into space or sailing toward an enemy ship.

Then, the accident happened.

The boys were riding their bicycles down their street one hot afternoon when Laurence playfully rammed into Billy, making him fall off his bike and onto the sticky blacktop. “Stop it! I'll tell Dad!” Billy had cried out at him.

Danny stopped his bike and watched them argue. It was then that Danny saw the car that was speeding toward them. “Laurence! Billy!”

His cry got their attention and they both looked back at the car. Laurence was able to jump out of the way, and he lay in the grass, his face hidden as he heard a dull thump. Thinking his bicycle had been trashed, he slowly raised his eyes to find Billy on his back in the road, his arms contorted strangely over his torso, several feet from the front of the car. 

Laurence ran over to him as Danny ran into the house, shouting for their parents. Billy’s left leg was broken, and Laurence swallowed back the bile that was rising in his throat as he glanced at the bone that was protruding through his skin.

He gazed down at his brother's pale face. “Billy?” he said, carefully shaking him by the shoulder. “Wake up…Billy.”

He continued to stare at his brother, not sure whether he was dead or just unconscious. He was brought out of his trance by his mother’s horrified shrieking. “My baby!” Her voice rang in his ears.

Their father was now running out to the street as the driver tried to explain to him that he didn’t even see the child.

Soong ignored him and slid onto his knees next to Laurence. He carefully lifted Billy and cradled his head, and Laurence could see the blood pouring from the back of his brother’s skull and through his father’s callused fingers. 

“Oh, God, no!” Soong moaned. “My boy! My beautiful boy!” He put his forehead against Billy’s and sobbed, but he soon turned a dark scowl in Laurence’s direction. “Why didn’t you pull him out of the way!?” he growled angrily. 

Laurence was being gently led out of the street by Julia as the ambulance skidded to a stop several feet away. Not even the blare of the sirens could shroud his father’s vile words:

“This is your fault.”  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Laurence slowly opened his eyes as he awoke from his heavy doze to still feel fingertips running through his hair. He looked up to see that his father had climbed onto the ladder to gaze at his sleeping boys, and he gave Laurence a small smile as he stopped caressing his hair and swept a thumb across his son’s wet cheek.

Laurence looked over his shoulder to find that Danny had curled up behind him and was hugging his stuffed cat once more as he slept soundly. He looked back at Soong. “Dad?” he whimpered. “Please don’t send me away.”

Soong smirked uncomfortably and opened his mouth to speak, but Laurence interrupted, saying, “I can be better. I can be good. Everything can be fixed, Dad. You told me that once. Everything broken can be fixed.”

His father bit his lip and shook his head. “No, Laurence. It can’t. I’ve given you so many chances.” He took a deep breath and looked away, mumbling, "I don't have the time anymore.”

Laurence watched as his father climbed down the ladder and walked over to Billy’s bed. He watched as Soong swept a tuft of dark hair away from a prominent dull scar just behind Billy’s left temple. Soong bent down and kissed his son on the cheek and walked to the door, shutting it behind him without giving Laurence another glance. 

Danny twitched in his sleep and Laurence turned to him, sneering and grabbing his cat from his arms. He threw it at Billy’s face, making him yelp in shock but not waking him.

Laurence climbed down the ladder and lay in Danny’s bed on the bottom bunk. 

He curled into a ball once more and closed his eyes tightly as he tried to block out the muffled sound of his mother’s crying coming from the master bedroom.


	2. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue: The Soong brothers exchange goodbyes before Laurence goes away.

The sun was creeping over the horizon and the Soongs stood outside waiting for a Greyhound bus. 

This would be the last time they would stand together as a family. Two weeks had passed since the decision was made that Laurence would attend the private school in Riverside, and he stood at the end of the driveway with his brother Danny standing close to him. Billy stood with their mother on the stoop, and she was holding his hand as she softly cried. Soong sat on the bottom step beneath them, his hands nervously writhing between his knees.

He didn't really want his son to leave, but he felt at a loss. Julia already had her hands full taking care of Billy, and Soong was too mentally strained with his work to have to deal with such a rambunctious child. He didn't want to take the chance to keep him in the house.

Soong glanced behind him and caught Billy's eye, who smiled at him. He wasn't going to let another accident happen. 

Danny casually picked up a handful of rocks and let them fall from his hand one at a time while Laurence, his eyes red with tears, gripped his backpack and suitcase close to his body. He hadn't eaten breakfast, but it was no matter to him because he felt that food would just make him feel sicker.

He knew he was damaged, and he quietly accepted his fate.

"I hope you make friends at your new school," Danny said, softly.

Laurence didn't look at him as he wiped a tear from his red cheek. "I won't..." he replied in a low voice.

Danny scratched his head and pursed his lips. He then smiled as an idea came to him. "You may take Spot, if you wish," he said. "He is excellent company." 

Laurence looked at his brother who was now trying to give him his stuffed cat. He only shook his head and sniffed as he wiped his face again with his sleeve.

The sound of the bus was creeping away from the highway and toward their street. Laurence heard footsteps behind him, but didn't move, even when he felt Billy's loving grip around his neck. 

"Bye, Laurence," Billy said, cheerfully. "Will you write to me? Huh?" By the sound of his tone, Laurence deduced that his parents hadn't told him why his brother was leaving. However, even if they had, he wouldn't remember ten minutes later.

Laurence only nodded, and soon he was turned around and embraced by his mother, who wept in the crook of his neck.

"Be a good boy, baby..." she whispered. "We'll see you again soon, okay?" She pulled away and noticed his frown, and she caressed his cheek with her thumb as his bottom lip quivered.

Julia stepped away from him and took Billy's hand as her husband knelt in front of Laurence.

Soong lifted his son's chin with his rough hand, and for a moment, Laurence could see the dismal glimmer in his father's bright blue eyes. "Take care, son," he choked out, softly. "You know...you're still my special guy."

Laurence turned away from his father and trotted back to the end of the driveway where the bus ground its brakes to a squealing stop.

He turned to Danny, who was staring at the bus in wondrous fascination. Laurence threw down his bags and grabbed his brother in a tight hug. He nuzzled against Danny's shoulder as Danny returned his embrace in silence.

"I love you...brother," Laurence whispered in Danny's ear.

Laurence stepped away quickly and grabbed his bags, running up the steps of the bus, not looking back.

Danny could hear his mother's sobbing, and he instantly felt his heart pound against his chest. He dropped Spot onto the concrete and proceeded to run as fast as he could towards the bus as it sped away from the house.

"Danny!" Soong shouted impatiently at him. He looked at his wife, gesturing for her to do something, but Julia gave him a hard look through her tears and instead ushered Billy back inside.

He grunted as he sprinted toward Danny who had now collapsed onto his knees and was panting frantically.

"Shit..." his father whispered as he quickly lifted Danny off the street and went over to the sidewalk. He sat down on the edge and, placing Danny in his lap, he put his hand on his son's small chest. "Follow my lead, boy," Soong told him.

Soong slowly puffed out his chest against his son's back as he inhaled deeply. Danny struggled to keep in sync with his father as tears blinded him and his sobs nearly choked him. His tiny hands gripped his father's work pants as he tried desperately to breathe.

If Danny had the strength, he could catch up to the bus, make it stop, and carry his brother home. If he had the strength, he would stand up to their father and prove his brother's worth to him.

But, Danny knew he was not strong because Laurence would no longer be there.

"Brother..." he exhaled, weakly.

Soong licked his lips as he continued to coach Danny's breathing. "Your brother will come back, honey," he assured him. "For Christmas...for the summer. He's coming back."

"I want...my brother!" Danny yelled, his breathing slowly returning to normal but with a dull wheezing in his chest.

"We're going to count, okay?" Soong told him. "To five. One...two..."

Danny squeezed his eyes shut and whined, "Daddy..."

Soong placed his nose against his son's scalp and nuzzled against him, his eyes now wet with tears. "Oh...my sweet little boy..." he whimpered quietly.

Danny had heard his words and wasn't exactly sure, as his father picked him up and carried him back home, which of his little boys he had meant.


End file.
